Course Catalogues / Courses / Description

Price: 3500 €

• Return to your organisation with the tools, knowledge and means to effectively handle and develop legally astute and advantageous contracts

• Achieve effective, workable solutions for all your contracting needs

• Implement strategies to ensure your contracts are plainly expressed and well risk-managed

• Protect your interests if things go wrong in the future

• Identify clauses which can be used to effectively manage risk

• Clearly understand the force of your contractual obligations

• Recognise the optimal times to exert the power of the clauses in your contracts

• Appreciate what constitutes a good contract and why

• Ensure that your organisation has a high level of ‘contractual governance’

• Understand the contractual implications of practical e-commerce

Commercial arrangements sealed with signatures or handshakes are part of daily life for most professionals, even across industries and sectors. They remain good business practice because they ’re built on enforceable principles of contract law.

Yet with vaguely expressed contracts, unclear offers or acceptance, or even with questions of  consideration or undue influence, contractual  disputes are still commonplace.

Contract Law Fundamentals for Non-Lawyers is an intensely practical two day course that will guide you through the essentials of contract law, exploring such details as when you need a contract, what types of contract exist and the effect of statutory law on your contractual arrangements.

It covers the crucial ingredients required for a good contract, provides tips for understanding contractual material, and looks at the traps and pitfalls of contract drafting. Importantly, Contract Law also scrutinises what happens when things go wrong, including offering options for assessing damages and remedies for breach, and looks at the contractual implications of working in an e-commerce environment.
 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

This course is relevant for ALL those who have some dealings with contracts in their every day business environment. Relevant people could range from contract advisors who work with contracts every day, to general managers, to CEO’s, to marketing managers and business development managers.

Course Details

Course Registration:          8:15am
Course Commencement:    8:30am
Course Conclusion:            5:00pm

Break Times:
Customised to suit participant requirements

Explanation of Timings:
These times act as a guide and may modify slightly depending on the depth of interactive class discussion and whether assessments are being conducted

Course Program:
This program is a guide and may alter to better address participant requirements on a consensus basis

What Makes a Good Contract? The Essential Ingredients Offer and acceptance Consideration Intention – Identify issues with Memoranda of Understanding, Letters of Intent and Letters of Comfort Certainty of terms – express and implied, agreements to agree Contingent conditions Consider the impact of ‘good faith’ requirements in contracting practice Exercise: A practical problem which highlights how the formation process can lead to problems within an organisation Capacity Issues Rules relating to commercial entities Agency issues Statutory provisions Practical steps to overcome capacity issues Creating Legal Contracts Do contracts always have to be in writing? Consequences of non-compliance. Part performance Variations and the rules How do you sign a contract? What Kinds of Contracts are there? The real costs of “sloppy” contracts: learning from the mistakes of others Deeds versus Agreements - what’s the difference? What are implied contracts? Standard form contracts and other express forms of contract Tenders and the legal issues which impact on the tender process Exercise: A case study considering problems in a tender situation. This will involve designing a process which avoids the legal and commercial pitfalls in tendering Constructing Good Contracts Understanding the form and content of a contract What makes a good contract: details and consistency The advantages of “Plain English” Risk management in contract drafting: exemption clauses and limitations of liability Legal issues surrounding indemnities, warranties, Consider the problems with Intellectual Property clauses and how to overcome them Minimising misunderstanding: traps and pitfalls with drafting clauses Tips for effectively reading contracts Exercise: Examples of plain English drafting together with a case study which involves an approach to practical drafting Effect of Statutory and Common Law on Your Contract Estoppel - Knowing When and How to Use it What are the principles? Inducement and detrimental reliance Exploring when and how to use estoppel Estoppel in practice - discussion of case law Practical tips to manage estoppel in contracting practice Exercise: Case study problem examining estoppel issues in a commercial setting

Statutory Impact on Contract Law Trade Practices Act 1974 Sale of Goods Act 1908 Corporations Act 2001 Workplace Relations Act 1996 What Happens When Things go Wrong? Setting Aside Contracts Mistake Misrepresentation Misleading and Deceptive conduct Fraud Duress and undue influence Unconscionability – Statutory unconscionability Exercise: Case study examining a contractual negotiation which leads to a contract but which contains clauses based on misrepresentation and mistake. How the law will treat these statements and the impact for the contracting parties? Termination Types of termination Breach Repudiation Delay Consequences of affirmation and termination Remedies for Breach Injunctions Specific performance Cancellation Damages Actions for debt and relief against forfeiture Restitution Alternative dispute resolution Assessing Damages How and when damages are assessed What if the contract provides for the way damages are assessed? Liquidated damages and penalty clauses Reliance and expectation losses: damages resulting from “loss of a chance” Damages for disappointment, distress and psychological injury arising from breach of contract Matters affecting the recovery of damages: mitigation and contributory negligence Exercise: A case study on damages together with drafting a liquidated damages clause which will avoid the legal pitfalls and encourage use and compliance by contracting parties. E-Commerce Contractual Issues in an E-Commerce Environment The contractual implications of e-commerce On-line trading, encryption and electronic signatures Jurisdiction issues The impact of e-commerce on contractual practice

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